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Wake Forest University

Publication Date

Spring 2014

Program Name

Tanzania-Zanzibar: Coastal Ecology and Natural Resource Management

Abstract

In Stone Town, Zanzibar, increasing populations and insufficient sewage treatment has greatly increased harmful levels of nutrients and anthropogenic-sourced contaminants along the city’s coastal waters. In this study, the nutrient and bacterial bioextractive abilities of local species of bivalves (A. antiquata, P. margaritifera) and seaweeds (E. denticulatum, U. reticulata) were examined in order to determine the potential for these species to remedy the local polluted waters. It was hypothesized that due to bivalves’ suspension-feeding activity, both species of bivalves would be able to decrease turbidity and fecal indicator bacteria (Enterococci) levels in sample polluted seawater. Likewise, it was hypothesized that due to the nitrogen and phosphorous nutrient assimilation of seaweeds, both species of seaweed would be able to decrease excess nutrient levels in the water caused by both raw sewage and bivalve waste. In concordance with extensive aquaculture studies of these effects, both species of bivalves were able to decrease total suspended solids and Enterococci levels while both species of seaweeds were able to decrease certain nutrient levels. From this broad study, it was determined that A. antiquata, P. margaritifera, E. denticulatum, and U. reticulata have the ability to be implemented successfully as potential bioremediators in an integrated mariculture program in Stone Town that will prove economically as well as environmentally beneficial.

Disciplines

Environmental Education | Environmental Health and Protection | Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment | Natural Resources and Conservation | Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology | Sustainability | Water Resource Management

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